Thiem Cruises Into Rio Semis
Second seed Dominic Thiem continued his dominant form on Friday at the Rio Open presented by Claro, sweeping into his first ATP World Tour semi-final of the year with a convincing 6-2, 6-3 win over Diego Schwartzman.
Thiem wasted no time getting down to business, keeping Schwartzman on the defence with his returns and racing through 11 of the first 13 games. The Argentine provided a late surge by breaking Thiem twice to go on a three-game run, but the Austrian calmly responded by breaking Schwartzman to love to advance in one hour and 15 minutes.
But the highlight of the match came at 3-0 in the second set, when Thiem hit a tweener passing shot winner that brought the crowd to their feet.
"I’ve tried it quite a lot of times and haven’t come close, so that was definitely the best shot I’ve ever hit in my life," said Thiem. "I think there’s a little bit of luck involved as well."
Thiem improves his FedEx ATP Head2Head record against Schwartzman to 3-0 and scores his second straight win over the Argentine in Rio, having also prevailed in last year’s second-round clash. He also matches his semi-final finish in last year’s tournament.
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Next up for the Austrian is fifth seed Albert Ramos-Vinolas, who ended the inspired run of Argentine qualifier Nicolas Kicker 6-2, 6-3. The Spaniard leads his FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry with Thiem 1-0, prevailing last September in the Chengdu quarter-finals.
"I think he’s having the best time of his career, close to the Top 20 and he likes playing on clay," said Thiem. "It’s going to be a very tough and intense match. I’m quite happy with how I’m playing though and will give everything I have."
Ramos-Vinolas has been on a hot streak this month, reaching the semi-finals in Quito and quarter-finals in Buenos Aires. He needed just one hour and 14 minutes to move past Kicker and into the final four.
“It’s my first semi-final at a 500 tournament, so I’m very happy,” said Ramos-Vinolas. “I’m playing at a good level at the moment on clay and hope to keep it going for the next round.”
Fourth seed Pablo Carreno Busta advanced into his second consecutive ATP World Tour semi-final when Alexandr Dolgopolov retired due to injury with the Spaniard leading 7-6(4), 6-7(2), 1-0. Carreno Busta saved a set point on his serve at 5-6 in the first set and Dolgopolov erased a match point on his serve at 5-6 in the second set, but the Ukrainian’s injury brought an untimely end to the match after one hour and 53 minutes.
The Spaniard gained revenge over Dolgopolov after a loss in last week’s Buenos Aires semi-finals.
DOUBLES
Fourth seeds Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah are through to the final after defeating Julio Peralta and Horacio Zeballos 6-7(4), 7-6(6), 10-6. Cabal/Farah saved a match point down 5/6 in the second-set tie-break. They will play third seeds Carreno Busta and Pablo Cuevas for the title, who defeated top seeds Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares 6-4, 3-6, 12-10. Carreno Busta/Cuevas also saved a match point down 9/10 in the Match Tie-break.